Wise Words are Overrated
by sparky-poo
Summary: More often than not, Katara and Zuko have conversations that were later edited because people like them shouldn't have anything in common. A collection of missing scenes. In the latest chapter, Katara learns that kissing solves nothing. Set after EIP.
1. wise words are overrated

**  
wise words are overrated  
**_(i'm bad at being good, but i'll never give up)  
_

* * *

With a last glance towards the whimpering man on the ground, he turned around and followed her footsteps.

She didn't say a word on their way back to where they parked Appa, so he didn't bother to start a conversation. They've been through a lot today, and the only thing he wanted was for them to go back to their camp and go to sleep.

He pulled his black shirt off- it was soaked and heavy; and found that hers was already folded and she was currently holding it to his direction, and he got her message.

Their black shirts and face-masks was nothing more than black ashes just a minute later; he watched them get washed by the rain, wishing that the things they did tonight can go away that easily too.

_Thud._

The sound snapped him out from his reverie; she was on his left side, one of her knuckles had hit one of the trees around them, and with another thud, the other knuckle joined.

_Thud. Thud._

He couldn't see her face clearly from here, the rain made his vision go all soggy and blurred, but he was sure that she was crying. And this worried him.

_Thud._

Zuko of The Fire Nation was not made for comforting girls.

He had met a lot of girls and ladies; either from Fire Nation or Earth Kingdom, but the only time he saw a girl cry besides her sister _(when she was a baby, of course- Princess Azula does not cry) _and her circus friend in Ember Island,was under the crystal catacombs of Ba Sing Se, and the tears had come from the same blue-eyed girl he was standing next to right now.

_Thud._

And frankly, he didn't think that the words that he said the last time _(I'm sorry)_ would stop her tears.

_Thud. Thud._

The sound continued, and it grew louder and louder as she hit the tree bark harder and harder, and he started to worry that her knuckles might bleed.

"Katara?"

_Thud._

"Katara." _Thud. "_Stop."

_Thud. Thud._

He could see red coming out from the knuckles; this had to stop. "Katara!"

_Thud._

He grabbed one of her hands- he's always been a physical person; only to lose it a second later- she's stronger than she was before, back when the only thing in his mind when he saw her is how to use her to capture the Avatar.

_Thud._

Her hits were tinted with desperation; she hit the tree as if the action was the only thing that held her together, and she looked like she was going to fell apart if she stops.

"Katara." He took both of her hands from behind her and forcefully yanked her away from the unfortunate vegetation. She struggled hard, harder than he expected.

"Let go!"

"No."

"Let go!"

She must have meant to yell, but the sound that came out from her mouth sounded more like a child's shriek; scared and furious. She managed to turn herself around so now she was standing face to face with him and he was holding both of her wrists.

_Déjà vu._

"I'm trying to help you!" He winced as soon as the words left his mouth; judging from her expression, he just made everything worse. Why, he asked the universe in his head, why couldn't his mouth say something right, just for once?

"I don't need help!" She yelled, angry blue eyes drilling holes into his golden ones. "What makes you think I need any help, and above all from you, huh?"

"Look," he tried to reason- where is Aang when you need him? He started to regret making fun of the kid earlier- "I know you're angry, and I understand-"

"No!" She cut him, hands struggling angrily to try to escape his grip. "You don't understand! No one does!" He could feel her tears dripping down on their hands, mixing with the blood on her knuckles. "Not dad, not Sokka, not Aang, and especially not you!"

He pretended that her words didn't hurt him. _(That's what all her words did these days) _To be honest, he really wanted to say that he understands, whisper against her ear that he knows her pain, and cares enough about it to the point that he didn't want to see her like this.

But he couldn't.

He's not made for spewing out words like that; words full of wisdom and sentimentality enough to make even his sister sick. No girl had ever needed that kind of words from him- Azula would rather die than asking him for advice, Mai's not a person who's into emotional heart-to-heart talks, and he didn't know the other girls long enough for them to share their feelings with him.

So he did what he does best.

He yelled back.

"You know what? Maybe I don't understand! I'm sorry that I'm not as unfortunate as you are!" He took a breath and looked her in the eye, "But if you think that I'm just going to stand here and let you hurt yourself over a pathetic excuse of a man, then you're wrong!"

She fell.

He was taken by surprise, and went down with her. The younger girl was sobbing uncontrollably now, burying her face in one of his shoulders, and he found himself releasing the grip he had on her wrists in exchange for patting her back awkwardly.

"They told me to forgive…" Her hands were gripping his tunic, and he found himself thankful that the red color would disguise the blood that splattered from her knuckles, "It's just… I can't…" The sobs continued, and he was, for the lack of better word, speechless.

Here he was, sitting sprawled on the muddy ground with the girl who threatened to end his life weeks ago crying on his lap and wetting his shoulder. Not to mention that it was raining, and the only company they had besides each other was a six-legged flying bison.

The description in his head sounded like a scene straight out from a romance play his mother used to watch in Ember Island.

He tried to think about how he should deal with this. What would his uncle do at times like this? If the old man was in his place right now, he would've pulled the waterbender to a warm hug, smiled and wiped out her tears, then told her some proverbs that sounded wise to make her feel better.

He sighed. No, that wouldn't help at all. His experience with Sokka in the Boiling Rock told him that uncle's proverbs sounded best when they were delivered by, well, by uncle himself. He's not feeling articulate right now, anyway.

Aang… The bald kid would've hugged Katara too, and told her that he was proud of her because she did the right thing. And then he would preach about the wonders of forgiveness.

No. Just… no. He wasn't even sure if she did the right thing- if he did the right thing- and he didn't think that she would actually be comforted by the sole topic of forgiveness, not with the way she was chanting "I'll never forgive him" to his tunic like some sort of a mantra.

Another sigh. Come on, he told himself. You can do this.

"Look…" Her sobbing continued, "Katara, I…"

He was losing his ground before he even began. She lifted her head, and their eyes met once again.

"I…"

She looked so small, so young, and so _hurt _that the sight of her almost broke his heart.

"I…"

Screw wisdom.

"I'm not good with words," he said finally. "I don't know what to say right now to you, but…"

He placed his hands on her back and pulled her for an awkward hug, "It's going to be okay."

She was still crying and soaking his tunic, but she hugged him back.

Even though the only words that he could say to her were "It's okay" over and over and over again until he sounded like a broken record, she accepted his comfort; and he was glad.

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**Reviews will be very appreciated. And oh, I don't own Avatar.**


	2. archipelago of kisses

**  
archipelago of kisses  
**_(i want you to help me with whatever this is)_

* * *

It didn't surprise her that _he _was the one who approached her first out of her friends.

Lately, they just seemed to find their way to each other, either by accident or on purpose- especially after their 'field trip'. That and she had a feeling deep inside her gut that he was affected by the play's end more than he let on.

So here he is, sitting beside her on the edge of the same pier they had hugged each other a few days ago, with a small flame flickering on one of his palms. She turned towards him and found out that he's looking back at her too, the sleeping bags under his eyes illuminated by the dim light.

He opened his mouth to ask-

"I can't sleep."

He closed his lips before opening them again. "Same here."

"Are you okay?" The question came out from her mouth before she could stop it- it was almost like an instinct, an automatic response from her. _I really do act like a mother, don't I? _She sighed. "Look, I'm sorry- I shouldn't have pried-"

"It's fine." He answered, and she raised one eyebrow in a _really? _fashion, and he sighed. "Okay, maybe not. And not really. I mean, for your question."

"I know. Who would be okay after seeing that stupid play-"

"They cheered."

"-huh?"

"The audience. When… Azula killed me and The Fire Lord defeated Aang… they were _happy."_

She noted that he called his father by the man's title now. "Zuko-"

"I know that a lot of people wanted me gone. But to see Fire Nation citizens to clap upon the idea…"

"They…" She stopped. This was harder than comforting Aang, Sokka, and even Toph. _What do you say to a guy whose own people cheered over his own death? _"Don't let it get into your head too much." Not the words she would usually said for comfort, but it's better than nothing.

"Thanks."

"And it's not going to happen."

"What?"

"Your death. Aang's defeat. We're going to win."

"You really think so?"

"I know so." She forcefully said those words, as if to assure herself and not only her companion. "There are going to be six of us in that final battle, not only just you and Aang." Saying the airbender's name brought back the other events on the theatre, and the nagging guilt she had gutted down came back. "We'll win."

"… Okay." He quietly replied.

She gulped that guilt down her stomach, before pulling her knees up so now her chin rested on top of it, and busied herself by looking at the comforting sight of the moon.

_We'll win. _She forced that thought into her mind, trying to replace all the doubts like, _what if we die?- What if Aang can't stop the Fire Lord after the comet passed? What if it's too late?_

"Katara. Hey, Katara-"

A soft nudge to a shoulder snapped her out of her thoughts, and she turned to the boy beside her. "Huh? What's wrong?"

"Nothing, you just… kind of spaced out, that's all."

"Oh."

"Did something happen?"

_Oh, no. _She thought in horror. _Zuko knows- _She could feel her cheeks reddening because of- what? Embarrassment? Mortification?

_Wait, _she told herself. _Calm down, he was probably just being a good friend and worrying for your sake. His question didn't mean he suspected that anything happened between you and Aang- he was just being worried. Worried. Yeah, that's it._

"Not-" She stopped. Maybe she should tell him. The stupid guilt was distracting her, and as a warrior, he'll understand, right? Maybe he can even help her, or something.

_(After all, she didn't know who else she should go to talk about her problem- Aang was out of the question, Toph… she feel weird to discuss this things with her, she's twelve- never mind that Aang's twelve too- but she's worried that the earthbending girl will tease her endlessly- Suki is a good choice, now if her brother wasn't hogging her to himself all the time- and Sokka, just… no. She didn't even want to think about it.)_

"Something happened at the theatre." She finally said. "Between me and Aang."

She received only a nod as his response, showing that he's listening and urging her to continue.

_No backing down now, _"We… had a misunderstanding." She gulped. "He thought that you and I… are, you know… _involved._"

She thought she heard her companion snort, but when she looked at him he was back to normal. She ignored the snort, and continued.

"I know that's just stupid. In fact, the whole play was stupid too- because even if I'm not in a relationship right now, you probably have a girlfriend- not that I know that you have one- somewhere and if she sees that-"

"I had a girlfriend."

"-it's inconsiderate of them to- did you say you had a girlfriend?"

"Yes, I did."

"_Had. _A girlfriend."

"We… broke up when I left home, for the lack of better word. Why are you looking at me like that?"

"You don't seem like the type who had a girlfriend."

"I don't have the face to have one, do I?"

She silently cursed herself. _Tsk, tsk, Katara- haven't you learned already? _"No." She looked at him. "When you joined us, you… look like you didn't leave anyone important behind. Well, you did leave your family- but that's another story."

"Did I really look like that?"

"You still look like that until now. Who is she? Your girlfriend."

"Mai. One of Azula's friends."

"Flying daggers?"

"Yeah."

"You and her?"

"Yeah."

"Oh." She remembered a pale girl with long black hair who didn't care about her own _brother's _safety. A girl who threw pointy things at them, a girl who probably hurt a lot of the Kyoshi Warriors if Suki was telling the truth. She remembered that she didn't like the girl.

But the boy beside her had been trying so hard to become her friend, so she tried to be nice. "She must be really sad, you know- you leaving her like that."

"_Mai _and sadness never mix well. She was pissed when I met her again."

"Why?"

"I broke up with her in a letter. And she didn't understand why I have to leave my country. Why I have to betray my people."

"You never talked with her about your decision?"

"No. We… didn't talk much about anything."

"You-"She shut her mouth, catching the meaning hidden in his words. _Oh. Oh. Of course. Well, that's what boyfriends and girlfriends do with each other, right? _She couldn't imagine Zuko kissing that gloomy girl- okay; she couldn't imagine him kissing anyone, period. He's _Zuko. _He's the grumpy guy, the guy who dances with dragons and takes everyone for field trips and the guy who jumps across zeppelins like it was _nothing. _And he's dating someone. Dated someone. Whatever.

"So… What happened between you and Aang?"

"Are you trying to change the subject?" She smiled.

"I'm trying to prevent awkward questions. And awkward answers. Sokka's were bad enough."

"And you don't think that I might answer _your _awkward question with an awkward answer?"

"You're not in a relationship."

She felt her face fell. "No. I'm not."

"If you don't want to answer-"

"He kissed me. _Aang_ kissed me. I was confused; I broke us off- Okay. I said it."

"Aang kissed you?"

"Yes. He did. We kissed- no, he kissed me- I stepped back- and well, yeah."

"And…"

"And, and, I don't know! I'm confused, okay! I want to be angry but I can't help feeling guilty and he looked so heartbroken and- you're not helping at all by just sitting there with your mouth open!"

She glared at him. He closed his mouth. She still glared. He sighed. "I'm sorry. It's just… okay, never mind. So… he kissed you. And you're angry, guilty, and confused." He sighed again. "I can't help you with this."

"Zuko."

"Yeah?"

"I just told you the thing that I will never tell Toph, Suki, and even Sokka because I believe that _you can help me. _And you had a girlfriend. Shouldn't you be more experienced in all of this?"

"If you want someone experienced, why not Suki?"

"Sokka."

"Oh."

"I know you're bad with words, but please. Just _say _something."

"I thought you knew that Aang like you."

Of all the things she expected to come out from his mouth, his last sentence wasn't one of them. "What?"

"Well- you two kissed on the day of Black Sun-"

She made a mental note to find the person who _dared _to tell Zuko about _that _kiss. Then again, it might be Aang who told him- but now she had to deal with another misunderstanding. "He's the one who kissed me! And just because we kissed doesn't mean that I _love _him!"

She saw what she hoped was understanding in his eyes. "That's why you're angry, aren't you? Because he _kissed _you."

"I already said that I'm confused. It's just, Aang might think that kissing solves the confusion, but-"

"It doesn't help with anything, right?"

"Yeah. And the way he looked at me- like I just killed a helpless animal or something- I don't know. I want to be angry, but he made it so hard."

"Kissing." He said softly, looking away. "I don't know what Aang was thinking when he kissed you, but what I know is it doesn't solve anything. It doesn't help you decide anything."

"You seem to know a lot."

"I was confused too. And when she tried to make it all better by kissing me, the confusion didn't go away. It grew worse and worse and in the end, I had to make the choice on my own, and now my ex-girlfriend hates me because she doesn't understand me. Because she didn't listen to my doubts and kissed me instead."

Katara wondered if Aang thought the same way too. If he thought that after he kissed her everything will just magically come together and they will love each other until happily ever after. She wondered if he actually heard her when she said she was confused.

"You're okay?" She heard him ask again.

"No."

"Don't let what happened between you and Aang cloud your decision. If you love him, you should tell him back. Before it's too late. And I don't think that he wanted to make you angry or anything. He just did what he thought was the best."

_That's why, _she wanted to tell him. Aang does things _he _thinks are the best. And earlier, she had said that she's confused and he _still _did what _he_ thought was the best.

"I- I don't know. But thanks." She genuinely smiled at him. "What you said, I don't know if it will help, yet, but I'll try talking this with Aang." She sighed. "Talking, not kissing."

"Don't make the same mistake that I did."

"Hopefully not. Come on," She stood and held one of her hands to him. "Are you planning to stay out all night? It's getting cold."

He took her hand and got up. And as they walked back to his summer house, she couldn't help but feel a little lighter.

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**I don't own Avatar. Reviews will be very appreciated.**


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